Within one hour of registering Community Resource Center on the Ample Harvest website I received a call from a local family of four with 10 orange trees. I spoke with the mother of the family and she said that until she heard of Ample Harvest her family was spending time cleaning up rotten fruit off the ground. Now her family can spend time harvesting fruit to give to low income families in their community. Since speaking with her, she has dropped off 8 large bags full of locally grown oranges
Sarah, Community Resource Center Food Pantry , CA
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Through your work at AmpleHarvest.org, local food pantries are connected with backyard gardeners. This partnership ensures that families who visit food pantries have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, while at the same time making sure that food grown in backyard gardens across America is not wasted. USDA supports the efforts of AmpleHarvest.org to end hunger in America and to improve access to nutritious, fresh produce for many low-income families.
USAD's Food and Nutrition Service is committed to reducing hunger and improving access to nutritious food for low-income Americans. We commend your dedication to this goal and thank you for helping to ensure that needy Americans are able to feed their families.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutriton Serivce, DC
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Ample Harvest has been a huge benefit to our partner agencies and has really helped getting fresh fruits to those in need.
Liz Landa, Feeding America of San Diego, CA
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I wanted to let you know that a representative from one of our local farmers/community garden contacted me today desiring to donate excess vegetables to our Fresh Market. He was made aware of us through the Ample Harvest website. I'm very happy that your organization has a presence on the internet, and that you are connecting local farmers and food pantries.
Crystal Robinson, Breakthrough Urban Ministries, Il
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Need fresh produce? Here is a website that connects farmers & backyard gardeners to your food pantry....The hope is that growers will turn their surplus produce into food for the needy, thereby preventing waste.
It's a great idea and a wonderful site. All you have to do is register your pantry (we already registered our Food Bank). That will allow growers to do a search by zip code and show the grower the location of the nearest food pantry where they can take their produce donations. The website even includes maps and directions.
Robert Srodulski, God's Pantry food Bank, KY
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We have been trying to find a good way to communicate to gardeners which food shelves they can donate to. I think ampleharvest.org is the missing link we have been looking for.
Tony Mans, Second Harvest Heartland, MN
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[AmpleHarvest.org is] a win-win model: the kitchen growers have the satisfaction of seeing their surplus food being eaten, and enjoyed. Impoverished pantry and shelter residents get to eat decent meals. And, down the road, the health care system saves money because the population is eating better, healthier, fare.
Sasha Abramsky, Huffington Post
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I support your efforts in getting wholesome food to those in need.
Timothy Vogel, Community Food Bank of NJ, NJ
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We are very excited to be included by your organization here at Island Harvest
Kimberly Harvey, Island Harvest, NY
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We are very supportive of this program.
Cindy Stevens, Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma,OK
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What's most exciting about Ample Harvest is that anyone can help connect their surplus produce to pantries, from community gardens, to ambitious backyard gardeners (or front-yard, in my own personal case), to apartment dwellers who use that crazy upside down tomato planter.
"Beyond Bread"
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Ample Harvest... touched on an underrated problem in the food recovery world. How can individuals or institutions donate fresh food when they don't know where to bring it?
Amale Harvest was created to solve that problem by providing an easy way for backyard gardeners to find the food pantries closest to their home. It's a neat idea. Because not only do pantries need more donations to meet their increased demand, but they also need fresh produce to provide healthy meals to those who don't get enough nourishment.
Jonathan Bloom, www.wastedfood.com
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The Garden Writers of America just published on their forum this interesting new organization. It's called Ample Harvest. They're connecting backyard gardeners nationwide with local food pantries. When you've got an abundance of produce - zucchini anyone? - you can donate it to a local food pantry who will give it to the needy.
This [AmpleHarvest.org] is a great program that gardeners and small farmers can, and should, embrace. ... Promote the idea to your farming friends so that they know were and when they can drop off contributions. People who use a food bank deserve fresh food and in today's economy there are more people than ever who need the help. So don't let the tomatoes get over ripe because you cannot can any more, bug your local food bank to take them, or set up your own table outside the food bank so that people can help themselves.
Kate Copsey, Atlanta Gardening Examiner
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Best of luck with this venture - this is a phenomenal idea!
Colleen Duerr, VP America's Grow-A-Row
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Plant A Row for the Hungry welcomes AmpleHarvest.org and all other resources that can help PAR participants share their garden surplus with those in need in their local neighborhoods and communities-the more local, the better. We currently cooperate with Feeding America, neighborhood food pantries, local soup kitchens, churches, civic organizations and any other groups that can help channel fresh produce to those in need.
It takes a lot of time and resources to find local food agencies everywhere PAR has programs. Any service that can help identify more local food agencies to make donations more convenient for gardeners is certainly one we will be happy to recommend. That will save PAR a lot of time and leave more resources to spend on encouraging more people to garden. We appreciate Gary's efforts and look forward to working for everyone's success.
Robert LaGasse, Plant A Row for the Hungry
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A brilliant initiative.
Not only is this ("In the latter half of the 20th century, large stretches of farmlands that had fed America were converted to housing developments. AmpleHarvest.org is part of an effort to return some of that land back to feeding America.") something we should all support, but we should also encourage suburban home owners associations to relax "turf" covenants, so that more lawns can be turned into gardens.
Congratulations with this initiative, and much success!
I've just sent an e-mail to 13 food pantries in Georgia, encouraging them to register on your site. All other readers can to the same thing in their states. This will work!
Lya Sorano, The Accidental Gardener
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This is a great idea!! Last year I had so many peppers. My parents had many tomatoes. I wish we knew earlier so that we could have planted more!!! :-)
Christine Truhn, Facebook
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... [our food bank] has sent your website and produce offer out to us....I do have to save "Hot Diggity!!"
Kathy Auger , LIFE Food Pantry, Loveland OH
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